Bhubaneswar, Mar 8 (Bureau) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Bhubaneswar has arrested one of the Directors of a chit fund company involved in a Rs 15 crore chit fund fraud. EOW sources on Tuesday said that accused Tapan Kumar Samanta was arrested from Naskar Road, Narendrapur in Kolkata on March 6 last Under section 406/420/467/468/471/120-B IPC r.w. Sec. 6 of OPID Act, 2011. He was produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Baruipur, South 24 Pragana (South), Kolkata on Monday. The arrested accused was brought to Balasore on transit remand and is being produced in the Ld Designated Court, under OPID Act, Balasore on Tuesday.
The case was registered on the complaint of one Sukadev Hota of Soro, Balasore against Pratap Kumar Biswal, Chairman & Managing Director of Mass Infra Reality Ltd. and Human Welfare Credit & Thrift Co-operative Society Ltd. and its other six directors including the present accused, Tapan Kumar Samanta. On the pretext of returning high rates of interest on deposits under different schemes the company floated, Hota alleged the accused has duped him and other depositors to the tune of several crores. Investigation revealed that Mass Infra Reality Ltd. is registered with ROC, Kolkata during September 2010 under the Companies Act, 1956 having its registered office under Barasat Police Station, 24 Parganas in West Bengal.
Accused Pratap Kumar Biswal was its Chairman-cum-Managing Director and the present accused Tapan Kumar Samanta is one of the Directors. Subsequently, during 2012, the company changed its name to Human Welfare Credit & Thrift Co-operative Society Ltd. registered under Multistate Co-operative Societies Act, 2012 having its registered office in Laxmi Nagar, New Delhi and the above named accused Pratap Kumar Biswal was its President. The company represented by the Managing Director and other Directors, including the present accused, deceived the general public by promising high rates of interest on deposits under different plans offered by the company and collected approximately Rs 15 crore from investors before running away from the locality. Earlier, in this case, the accused MD Pratap Kumar Biswal has been arrested in this case on July 25, 2021, and forwarded to court. He is still in judicial custody. Investigation of the case is continuing.